Allende (-Saron), (Pedro) Humberto
Allende (-Saron), (Pedro) Humberto
Allende (-Saron), (Pedro) Humberto, eminent Chilean composer and pedagogue; b. Santiago, June 29, 1885; d. there, Aug. 16, 1959. He studied violin and theory at the National Cons. in Santiago (1889–1908); then taught in public schools there. In 1918 he visited France and Spain; in 1928 he served as Chilean delegate to the Congress of Popular Arts in Prague, under the auspices of the League of Nations; in 1929 he took part in the Festival of Ibero-American Music in Barcelona. Returning to Santiago, he taught composition at the National Cons. (1930–50). He received the National Arts Prize in appreciation of his work in musical ethnology. His music is marked with an exquisite sense of authentic Chilean folk song, while the purely formal structure follows the impressionistic manner akin to that of Debussy, Ravel, and Granados. His symphonic poem, La voz de las calles (1921), incorporates street cries of Chilean cities.
Works
ORCH.: Sym. (1910); Escenas campesinas chilenas (1913); Cello Concerto (1915); La voz de las calles, symphonic poem (Santiago, May 20, 1921); La despedida for 2 Sopranos, Contralto, and Orch. (Santiago, May 7, 1934); Violin Concerto (Santiago, Dec. 4, 1942); Piano Concerto (1945). CHAMBER: String Quartet (1945). Piano: 3 sonatas (1906–15); 12 tonadas de carácter popular chileno (1918–22; also for Orch.). VOCAL: Songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire